


Pigtails

by darkangel0410



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-25
Updated: 2012-09-25
Packaged: 2017-11-15 00:58:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/521384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkangel0410/pseuds/darkangel0410
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris can't figure out why he keeps picking fights with Zach; lucky for him, Zoe decides to help him out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pigtails

Chris sat at a table by himself. That by itself was strange; usually Karl and Zoe would sit with him and Zach had always had lunch with him, since they had started filming the first movie. And it wouldn't have been weird for some of the other guys to stop and bullshit for a few minutes.

 

But today everyone was avoiding him and Zach had given him the glare of death from the first second he had seen him in the lot this morning. Since they had started filming these movies, there were times when Chris was convinced that his best friend had been Spock in some weird past life and getting glared to death with an accompanying Eyebrow Of Doom at 5:30 in the morning was one of them.

 

Chris knew why Zach was so pissed and why everyone else was ignoring him; the worst part was he couldn't even feel self-righteous about it. He knew he had been the world's biggest asshole yesterday and he deserved the punch that had busted his lip open.

 

The only thing he couldn't understand was why he had done it.

 

Chris ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He needed to figure out how he could make this up to Zach; he wasn't stupid enough to believe that they could just act like nothing had happened, but he hoped that Zach could eventually trust him again.

 

He winced at how girly he was starting to sound, but there was no denying that he was the one who had to make amends here. He just hoped that this would teach him not be such a jackass in the future.

 

Chris glanced over to where Zach was sitting across the room; he was by himself, too -his head down while he was screwing around with his phone. Probably playing Angry Birds, Chris thought with amusement. While Chris by himself was an unusual sight, Zach was comfortable being alone. He enjoyed the people and noise, but when it was gone again, he was content with his own company.

 

He was almost the complete opposite of Chris -Chris could make do with a book or watching a DVD by himself, but he loved when he was around people and he could talk and show off and just generally act like he was five again. More then once, Chris had wondered how they had managed to stay friends for as long as they had.

 

He looked over again and Zach happened to look at him at the same time; there was a moment of charged silence before Zach scowled at him and looked away. Chris hurriedly fixed his gaze onto the table and he could feel his ears burning -a sure sign he was getting embarrassed.

 

What the hell had that been? He couldn't ever remember feeling like _that_ when he had looked at another guy, no matter who the fuck they had been.

 

“God, you look so pathetic,” Zoe commented as she sat next to him.

 

Chris glared at her, but Zoe just rolled her eyes at him and took a sip of her coffee. Watching the way Zach and Chris had been avoiding dealing with the growing attraction between the two of them had been her favorite past time while they were filming.

 

“You should just go apologize to him,” she went on. “It's obvious he's just as upset as you are. Go put on your big boy pants, say you're sorry and stop moping.”

 

“Oh, wow, Zoe -you're right. Why didn't I think of that?” Chris asked sarcastically.

 

“Please, Chris,” Zoe scoffed, not missing a beat; sarcasm didn't bother her and she recognized a deflection attempt when she heard it. “You acted like an asshole and you know it, now you need to deal with it.”

 

“You think I don't fucken know that?” Chris snapped, his frustration obvious. “Jesus, Zoe, I've trying to figure out what to say since those stupid words left my mouth yesterday.

 

“If I could just apologize and have it be the end of it, I would have done it after my mouth stopped throbbing last night. But you know Zach -he's going to want an explanation and I don't have one to give.”

 

Zoe looked at him incredulously for a minute before she smirked. Oh, this was going to be so much fun.

 

“You're in luck, Chris, I know exactly what's going on here,” she assured him, trying to hide the glee in her voice.

 

“You do?” Chris questioned, sitting up straight and looking at his friend hopefully.

 

“It's really simple, Pine; this is what my mom used to call the Pigtail Syndrome,” Zoe explained, letting herself smile at Chris's confusion.

 

“You like Zach, so you tease him and make fun of him so he'll pay attention to you. Since you guys are already friends, you've been getting even more completely over the top in your attempts to capture his interest in a non-platonic way.”

 

Chris stared at her in shock; almost without realizing it, he snuck another look across the room.

 

“In your case, it's even dumber then usual,” Zoe continued, ignoring the sound of protest her friend made. “Since everyone knows that Zach's got the hots for you and that all it would take is the right kind of smile from you and he'd come running.”

 

“Bullshit,” Chris managed to get out; his heart was going a mile a minute and his mouth felt as if he'd been eating salt for the past hour. “That's bullshit -and you know it. Zach's not interested in me like that and I'm -”

 

“Not so straight?” Zoe finished when Chris faltered, giving in and laughing at the completely pissed off look on the face of the man in front of her. But riding under that was a faint edge of hopefulness in his eyes; it was actually quite adorable -not that she would ever tell him that. “If you think no one's noticed that you check out Zach's ass every chance you get, you're sorely mistaken. Not that I can blame you, it is pretty damn fine.”

 

“He doesn't even play for your team,” Chris hissed, his eyes glancing across the room for what was probably the tenth time in as many minutes. “And you're fucken crazy -do you know that?”

 

And it was crazy; even if if a part of Chris's brain was in fucken hysterics right now, laughing at him in complete and utter glee at Zoe's words. _**Shut the fuck up,**_ he told himself harshly. _**It's perfectly fucken normal to have a man crush on your best friend.**_

 

_**Maybe but what's**_ _ **not**_ _ **normal is checking out his ass every chance you get,**_ his mind retorted back happily. _**And what's really abnormal is the way you watch him all the time -you fucken weirdo.**_

 

He didn't know what was worse: that he had been crushing on Zach or that everyone in the whole place knew it -except for him, apparently.

 

Seeing Chris's panicked expression, Zoe softened her next words. “Look, Chris, it's not like everyone knows; sure Karl and I noticed -and I think Simon might know -but it's not like JJ's over here lecturing you about it, so you can relax.”

 

Chris barely heard a word she was saying; he was having a god damned _epiphany_ here, so he figured he could be forgiven for ignoring her.

 

His brain was rearranging scenes and actions and shoving them into a new pattern, one that scared the shit out of him even as it thrilled him.

 

“Holy fuck,” he breathed out once his mind handed him the completed picture; one where it was quite clear to him that he was lusting after Zach -and that Zach was just as into him. “I... He... _Fuck_.”

 

Zoe watched in amusement as Chris pushed his chair back and bolted out of the room. Oh, she couldn't wait to tell Karl about this.

 

 

Chris stood outside of his best friend's apartment, trying to work out what to say and how to say it without sounding like he was either a bitch or an idiot. But as he looked around, he couldn't help the slight snicker that escaped when he thought about what he was doing.

 

He was standing in the middle of the street, going to confess that he had fallen in love with his best friend and to apologize for being an ass. He might as well be carrying a boom box with him -then he'd be using every cliched romantic movie plot since the '80's.

 

Chris sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Mentally telling himself to stop being such a pussy, he started up the steps and knocked on Zach's front door; thanking god that Zach didn't have any nosy neighbors.

 

Barely a second passed before Zach pulled it open and the two friends stared a each other for almost a minute before Zach took a step back, a look of nervousness on his face.

 

It took Chris a second to form a reply -since when was Zach ever unsettled by _anything_?- but he cleared his throat and offered a small smile with his words.

 

“Hey, man. Is it alright if I come in?”

 

“I guess,” Zach answered after another few seconds of silence. He moved over to the side and opened the door the rest of the way.

 

Zach closed the door behind him and for once in his life, Chris was at a complete loss at what to say.

 

“I'm so sorry,” Chris said, the words rushing together; he absolutely hated awkward silences. “I didn't mean it, I was just joking around, I swear.

 

“You're right, I shouldn't have joked around about that,” he went on hurriedly, not giving Zach a chance to say anything. “But I don't know- Zoe said it involved fucken hair, so I don't know. But, fuck, I really am sorry that I hurt your feelings.”

 

Zach blinked at him, confused, while he tried to make sense of what Chris had just said. The part about Zoe completely eluded him, but what he did understand was that Chris really was sorry for their fight. Zach sighed inwardly; maybe he did over react. He knew Chris had been joking even as he'd gotten pissed and swung at him. The reason he had gotten so pissed was a good one, but it wasn't Chris's fault that he had no idea what was going on in Zach's head.

 

“It's OK,” Zach assured him, relaxing a little and smiling at him. “I over reacted; I knew you weren't serious and I still lost it.”

 

“So, we're good?” Chris asked, his relief obvious. At Zach's nod, Chris grinned. “Well, now that _that's_ been settled, there's something else I wanted to talk about.”

 

Zach raised an eyebrow and leaned against the wall, completely forgetting about the reason he had been in the hallway in the first place.

 

“I had an interesting conversation with Zoe earlier,” Chris told him, mimicking Zach's stance against the wall opposite him. “Something she said made me realize that I've been lying to myself for fucken years -and you, too.

 

“It wasn't on purpose, you know? I just didn't understand that what I was feeling was _that_. It always just seemed like a normal bromance thing and I always just thought I was being a good friend every time I hated one of your dates.

 

“And, really, I should have known something was up since I haven't gotten laid in fucken forever. But that's not the point, is it?

 

“God, I'm fucken rambling and you should just shoot me now because I've obviously gone off the deep end into insanity. And I'm going to shut up now. But, just so you know, I know that you do and I do, too.”

 

Zach opened his mouth and closed it again, completely unsure what to say; the fact that Chris was practically _beaming_ at him might have had something to do with why he couldn't figure anything out.

 

“Um, right. I do what exactly?”Zach asked, trying to look like he wasn't thinking what it would be like to bite Chris shoulder, right there where his shirt was pulling away from his throat.

 

“What?” Chris said absently, his eyes running down the front of the other man's body before he jerked them back up to Zach's face; he couldn't help but noticing little things about Zach that he never did before -or, at least, that he had never admitted to noticing before.

 

“Oh, yeah. I meant, that I love you.”

 

Before Zach could say or do anything, Chris added, “You know, like the way you love a boyfriend.”

 

His breath caught in his throat and Zach could barely believe what was happening. For longer then he wanted to remember, he'd been in love with his best friend -his extremely _straight_ best friend. And that had just been to cliché for him to even believe at first.

 

He had tried to ignore it; he had tried to tell himself that they were just really close friends, but nothing had worked and Zach finally had to accept that he loved someone who he could never have.

 

And now, Chris just showed up and confessed his love; like some fucked up '80's movie. Despite being an actor and living in California, Zach knew life just didn't fucken work that way.

 

“I knew you wouldn't believe me,” Chris told him, pushing away from the wall and moving so he stood in front of Zach. Before Zach could even start to process his words or why the hell Chris was doing this to him, Chris's mouth was only inches from his and his brain shorted out. “Guess I'll have to show you.”

 

Chris leaned in and brushed his lips over Zach's once, lightly, before he made a content noise and pressed his mouth harder against Zach's. It took Zach all of a second to realize what was going on and then he was kissing Chris back; their lips fit together easily, like they'd done this before.

 

Chris pulled back and bit his lip playfully. Zach growled and reversed their positions so that was Chris was against the wall. He grunted softly when he hit the wall, but Zach quickly sealed their mouths together again.

 

Before he even knew he was doing it, Zach had Chris completely pinned and was assaulting his mouth roughly. Chris made a low noise in the back of his throat and moved his hands so one was clutching Zach's shoulder and the other was fisted in Zach's hair.

 

Zach pulled back and looked at Chris, half expecting to see that Chris wasn't really into _this_ ; that he had just been trying to make him feel better. Or that he had changed his mind.

 

But Chris was staring back at him, his eyes a darker blue then Zach had ever seen them turn before. Smirking, Zach dipped his head down again, placing biting kisses along Chris's jaw.

 

Chris gasped and turned his head to the side, trying to give the other man more access to his throat. Zach took the hint and started biting his way down Chris's throat; he let his hands grip the other man's hips tightly, his thumbs slipping under Chris's shirt to rub the skin right above Chris's jeans.

 

“Why didn't I do this before?” Chris wondered hoarsely, pulling Zach's head back up so he could kiss him again.

 

“Took you long enough,” Zach murmured, giving Chris a quick kiss before he moved away again. “But you never were as smart as me, so it's understandable it took you so long.”

 

Chris grinned at the affection in Zach's voice and promptly decided two could play this game. He moved his hands under Zach's shirt and let them rest on his ribs for minute before his fingers moved down and Chris let them play with the waistband of Zach's jeans; he smirked at the way Zach's breath caught.

 

“You're going to regret teasing me,” Zach warned, his own hand slipping from Chris's hip to palm the front of his pants.

 

“Holy fuck,” Chris moaned as Zach squeezed him and when Zach did it again and bit his neck, _hard_ , Chris swore that he saw stars. “If that's what I get for teasing you, I think I'm going to start doing it more often.”

 

“You're talking too much,” Zach informed him, stepping back from him and smirking at the pout on his best friend's face. He grasped Chris wrist and tugged Chris after him

 

Chris had the fleeting thought that being not quite straight was the best thing that ever happened to him.

 

 

A few days later Zoe walked into the tent they had set up for catering and paused, making Karl run into her.

 

“What the hell, Zoe,” Karl complained, scowling at the back of her head. “I'm hungry; can you please move so I can get something to eat?”

 

“Look at them, Karl,” she told him, completely ignoring his words.

 

She motioned over to where Zach and Chris were sitting down, in there respective blue and gold costumes; although Zach still didn't have his ears on yet. Their heads were both bent over, looking at something on Zach's phone that was making Chris snicker.

 

“So, they made up,” Karl shrugged, slipping around Zoe and heading over to the tables where the food was set up. “Who cares? I mean, it's good that they're not glaring at each other -that made filming a pain in the ass- but in the long run, it's not that big of a deal.”

 

“They didn't just make up, dumb ass,” Zoe informed him, satisfaction in her voice. “They're together now.”

 

Karl rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder to where she had pointed them out to him. He was going to brush it off when he saw Chris say something that had Zach blushing slightly and Chris angled his chair a little closer to Zach's. Raising an eyebrow, Karl turned to Zoe and shrugged again.

 

“So what?” Karl said, grabbing his coffee and the plate of food he had. Walking past Zoe, he sat down at the table with Chris and Zach.

 

Zoe shook her head; she definitely needed to get some girlfriends. But as she made her way to the table, she mentally patted herself on the back for helping them get together -God only knows how long it would have taken them on their own.

 


End file.
